Father of the Bride
by Gamma Orionis
Summary: Three daughters. Three marriages. Three times, Cygnus Black is the father of the bride. Three one-shots written for Writing Challenge #37 on xoxLewrahxox's Bellatrix Lestrange forum.
1. Bellatrix

Author's Notes: Written for BellaPur's Daddy Challenge on xoxLewrahxox's Bellatrix Lestrange: The Dark Lord's Most Faithful forum.

The first of three one-shots. 500 words.

)O(

"I don't want to get married."

"It is not a choice."

"But I don't want to."

"You must keep the family bloodline alive."

"But I don't love Rodolphus."

"That is irrelevant."

That same conversation – or close variants of it – was repeated, Cygnus estimated, thirty or forty times in the week leading up the Bellatrix's wedding, with increasing frequency as the event approached. By the day of the wedding, nearly every word out of Bellatrix's mouth was regarding how she did not wish to marry, and he could not even hope to speak to Bellatrix without the argument coming up.

When the family arrived at the chapel where Bellatrix's wedding was to be held, she disappeared into the chamber where the bride and her father were to wait before the ceremony without so much as a glance at any other family member. Cygnus joined her, not pleased that he would have to wait there with her until the musical cue sounded for them to walk down the aisle.

Bellatrix has already slumped into one of the two straight-backed wooden chairs, and she had her arms crossed over the front of her dress. She glared mutinously at her father.

"I _don't want to–_"

"We have had this argument more times than I care to count already," Cygnus snapped at her, cutting her off before she could get started. "You have no choice in the matter. Neither of us ever had any choice, and now we have less than ever!"

"I hate you!" Bellatrix snapped, eyes blazing. "If you loved me, you wouldn't make me get married!"

"Stop behaving like a child, Bellatrix! You are nineteen years old, Rodolphus Lestrange is a good match, and you cannot back out now!"

Bellatrix turned away from him, scowling.

_Do you think I want my eldest daughter to be miserable?_ Cygnus wanted to ask. _If I could have, I would never have let you be betrothed to Lestrange._ If he could have, he would have kept Bellatrix – and her sisters too – from marrying, ever. He would have kept them for eternity as his little girls.

But that was not an option. Pureblood girls married, whether they wanted to or not. And, he had no doubt, if he forbade her from marrying Rodolphus Lestrange, she would be whining about how unfair it was that she was not allowed to marry.

Music began to play – rich, deep organ music, and Cygnus took his daughter's arm firmly, pushing the door into the chapel open and all but dragging her down the aisle.

The whole ceremony through, Cygnus was sure that Bellatrix was going to do something. She would bolt for the chapel door, say "I don't" instead of "I do", whip out her wand and curse the priest into oblivion before turning on the rest of them.

But she didn't. She stood there, expression stony, and repeated the vows she had been taught.

And when Bellatrix received her wedding ring, Cygnus Black lost his first daughter to marriage.

)O(

_Fin_


	2. Andromeda

600 words.

)O(

Cygnus did not have the privilege of attending his second daughter's wedding.

He was in his study, accompanied by a low fire and a bottle of wine when he heard the distinctive click of the front door closing. The sound startled him out of a half-doze, and he was up and out in the foyer immediately, staring around, looking for an intruder, his wand clutched in his hand. Was that the sound of someone entering the house or leaving?

He was completely silent, listening as carefully as he could, waiting to hear if there was any noise – the sound of footsteps, creaking floorboards, another door opening – that could signal an intruder.

No. All was silent.

Someone going out, then.

He crept to Druella's bedroom, cracking the door and peering inside. Druella was fast asleep, with her white cat curled at her feet. The cat raised its head and hissed disapprovingly at Cygnus, who shut the door silently and proceeded to Narcissa's room. Of the women Cygnus shared a home with, Narcissa, he supposed, was the most likely to be sneaking out now that Bellatrix was gone.

He opened the door with great trepidation, fully expecting to see an empty bed. But no, Narcissa was curled there too, and he felt relief wash over him.

Cygnus was now quite prepared to admit that he had imagined the noise, a product of lack of sleep and the red wine. He had no doubt that Andromeda would be in bed too, she was, after all, his good girl, his sweet daughter, his favourite. Why would she sneak off?

Reassured, he opened the door.

Her bed was empty.

Cygnus was sure that he felt the floor give way beneath him. He clutched the door frame for support. Andromeda was outside, somewhere, who knew where or why. Parental instinct won over the anger he should have felt at her, and he was out the door in a minute, scanning the horizon for his daughter. He saw a figure disappearing over a swell in the moors, and was off after her, running to catch up. He got over the crest in the hill, and froze, staring at the scene below him.

His daughter, sweet Andromeda, wrapped in a man's arms.

"Are you sure this is what you want?" the man asked, and Cygnus listened, hidden from their view by the heavy mists, silent and still so as not to draw attention to himself.

"I'm sure," Andromeda said. "I love you so much, Ted…"

Ted. Ted was not a Pureblood name. Ted was a Muggle name, not one that eligible men would use.

"Your family…" Ted began tentatively.

"Can rot in Hell, every last one of them. If they can't accept that I want to marry you, then I don't give a damn what they think. I never want to see them again."

The words hurt Cygnus to the core, and he watched without acting as Andromeda and this Ted – was he a Mudblood? Half-blood? Muggle, even? Cygnus would never know which – disapparated.

That was the last Cygnus ever saw of his favourite daughter.

Years later, long after the name "Andromeda" ceased to be mentioned in the Black household, Cygnus would still ask himself why he hadn't done anything to stop her, why he had stood by and watched her go. It would have been so easy to stop her – a few flicks of his wand would have kept his daughter with him forever. But he hadn't acted. Why not?

He didn't know.

But with the crack of their disapparition, Cygnus lost his second daughter to marriage.

)O(

_Fin_


	3. Narcissa

Last chapter. 300 words

)O(

Sweet Narcissa's wedding was the last Cygnus ever attended.

The wedding was beautiful – Narcissa a vision in powder blue, her groom, Lucius, every bit the white knight every girl should marry, the guests all so polite and proper, Druella having outdone herself with the decorations – and Cygnus loathed every second of it. His smile was forced and not very convincing, and he paid little attention to the goings on of the wedding.

He did not want to give his youngest daughter, his darling, precious jewel, away to any man, no matter who it was. The marriage could have been to God himself and Cygnus would still not have been happy to walk Narcissa up the aisle.

But walk her up the aisle he did, facing resolutely forward. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Bellatrix and Rodolphus, sitting stiffly too far apart, and he saw the empty space where Andromeda should have sat, and all the other guests looking bored and falsely pleased. They were all just pretending to feel joyful for the couple. Why should he bother with that falsehood?

Cygnus would later berate himself for denying his youngest daughter a father's joy at her wedding. Could he have not pretended to be happy for just a few hours?

No, of course he could not.

Marriage was too miserable a prospect. Marriage had split apart his family. It had turned Bellatrix from bright and lively to icy and embittered, it had stolen Andromeda from him completely, and now Narcissa had been taken from him as well. Cygnus longed for a chance to go back and appreciate the time when his family had three daughters rather than having none.

Long before the priest proclaimed Lucius and Narcissa husband and wife, Cygnus had lost his final daughter to marriage.

)O(

_Fin_


End file.
